Ghosts Of The Past
by ronnambi
Summary: When a mission goes south and a 6 man 21st century special forces team land in the Mass Effect universe, what's going to happen? Especially when the team practically knows what's going to come.
1. Chapter 1

**Ghosts Of The Past**

What happens when a 21st Special Forces team lands up in the Mass Effect Universe as they try to stop a terrorist nuclear device? Covers the entire Mass Effect series.


	2. Chapter 2: Groundside

**Only the OCs are mine**

**Commander Shepard's POV**

"We are approaching drop point two" Joker reported.

As the _Normandy _came into a hover Commander Katherine Shepard, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Corporal Richard Jenkins jumped off the loading bay and to the ground three feet down. They immediately took position in a semicircle with their weapons pointed outwards to any threat as the _Normandy _lifted off.

"Alright team, lets move out" ordered Shepard. Nihlus then came on.

"Commander, this place got hit hard, watch your back"

"Copy that" Shepard replied as she continued to move, walking past a boulder.

"What the hell is that?!" asked Alenko. Shepard swung her Lancer assault rifle at the threat. Jenkins immediately calmed everyone down.

"Relax, they are gas bags. They are harmless, like floating sheep" he chuckled.

Shepard relaxed a little, but still kept her weapon at the ready. The team kept moving quietly.

_"Delta, Psycho. I have eyes on Alpha team" _came an unknown voice over her radio. She stiffened immediately. Her team and she immediately stopped and crouched, sweeping the area. She spared a glance at her teammates and saw that they were equally stressed out as her at the thought of unknowns being able to observe them.

" _Copy Psycho. You and Dusty engage all hostiles targeting Sierra. Her team is marked HVI alongside asset Noble. Any sign of asset Whiskey?" _came another voice. The message did relieve her anxiety a bit.

"_Dusty here. Negative visual on asset Whiskey" _came the reply.

"_Nomad here, two geth drones in pursuit of asset Whiskey. Hunter and I are moving into position to engage_" came the reply.

"_Copy Nomad, you are clear to engage. Watch yourselves, heavy geth presence in the area. Greyhound and I are moving to tram station to engage target Alpha. Let's shut things down before they get worse" _the reply came immediately.

"This is Commander Katherine Shepard, Systems Alliance Navy identify yourself" she asked into the radio.

_"Relax Commander, my team is here to assist you in your mission. We'll RV with you at the tram station, Delta_ _out_" came the reply before the transmission was cut.

_What was that about? _Shepard thought to herself as she gestured to Jenkins to take point. The corporal immediately ran out and two disk like objects flew out from behind the trees. But before they could open fire, two bolts of energy punched through the two drones and they fell to the ground.

_"Like the boss said Commander, we'll cover your back. Just call out any other targets you see and we'll take care of them"_ came the first voice over her channel. Two new icons popped up on her HUD where her teammates names were. Psycho and Dusty.

"Thanks guys, I owe you one" Jenkins sighed. Two more bright flashes and two more dead drones fell to the ground.

"_Make that two"_ commented the voice she recognised as Dusty.

"All right gentlemen, let's see what we can get done here" Shepard commented over her radio. She was puzzled over who this team was and how they knew of her and who this mysterious _Delta _was, but she saved that puzzle for later.

"Let's move out" she ordered her team, taking point herself, hoping her two mysterious snipers could protect her team.

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**R&amp;R!**


	3. Chapter 3 : Stalkers

**Disclaimer**** : Except for the OCs I own nothing in the coming pages. **

**From now on all POVs will be in first person.**

* * *

_**SSgt. Hari 'Dusty' Kumar:**_

_To think seven years ago we were blasted ahead in_ _time and into another reality _I thought to myself while my best friend Jamshed 'Psycho' Abdullah engaged another geth using an M-8 Mamba hardlight sniper rifle. Jamshed's nickname had taken the whole team by surprise as he was easily the most stable of all of us. The two of us had set up a hide site on the hill where under a overhang the team had concealed our transport, an A-24 Hind transport/gunship.

I tracked the progress of Alpha team as they approached the rock. Just as asset Whiskey took a tumble, Lt. Jake 'Nomad' Dunn and . Jeevan 'Hunter' Desai dropped their cloaking and engaged the geth pursuing Whiskey. As soon as the threats were neutralised, the two activated their cloaking to continue scouting ahead.

Whiskey and Alpha team stood there, and by listening to their comm traffic, they were still trying to figure what was going on, then Sierra came on over my radio.

"Hey Dusty, were those your teammates ?" Sierra asked. Even though Delta would not admit it, even under extreme pain, I know that he had been nursing a crush for the Lioness Of Elysium for some time.

_The guy would happily jump out of a spacecraft in orbit rather than admit he likes a girl _I thought as I replied.

"Yes ma'am, Nomad and Hunter. They'll scout ahead and I'll feed any intelligence they pick up" I reply.

"Alright, just tell them to watch out" her reply comes over immediately.

"Yes ma'am" I reply, holding in my snort of amusement.

_I stand corrected _I thought as I target and eliminate a cloaked Geth Hunter _The guy would happily jump out of a spacecraft in orbit __rather __than admit he likes **this girl**._

_"Dusty we need air support, ten kilometers north of you"_ Arya "Greyhound" Dunn came over our radio.

I swung my rifle in that direction and had a look at the small army in front of the two of them. Four Colossi, five Primes, twelve Hunters and forty Geth troopers. Correction as of now there is 1 Colossi (badly damaged), zero Primes, two Hunters and four Geth troopers. And these numbers continued to drop as a black blur ran among them leaving a blue corona in his wake.

"_Never mind _" sighed Arya as she walked over to where Delta sliced the last geth in half with his hardlight saber.

"He's in for it" Jamshed commented as we shifted our guns to keep a track of the progress of Alpha team. That is, Jamshed kept a track while I located asset Noble. The guy was a ghost.

Not able to find him, I start scanning the area for primary target Alpha. I switch my aim to the location and spot something which changed the entire nature of our mission.

"Delta, be advised primary target is not Alpha, I repeat _not Alpha. _Uploading visuals now" I tell him as I begin streaming my scope camera to my leader's HUD.

"_Well, this changes things_" came Delta's reply.

* * *

_**Spectre Nihlus Kryik's POV:**_

_Spirits this is bad_ I thought as I shot up another blue human zombie-cyborg that came ravening up to me and I jumped back before it detonated in a small EMP. I then activated my active camouflage as I bypassed a large patrol of Geth. Their presence was disturbing, possibly as disturbing as the presence of an unknown special operations unit in the area. The only comforting factor to their presence was the fact that they were protecting the commander, along with two assets named 'Noble' and 'Whiskey'.

As I stepped around a corner, a group of Geth troopers commanded by a single Prime leveled their weapons at me. Before I could even do anything, two black armoured forms appeared out of thin air and opened fire. Their fusillade lasted all of five seconds. In those five seconds, the Geth were torn apart, their shields failing and their bodies shattering into pieces like glass. When they stopped, all that was left of the geth were pieces of machinery.

The two of them then stood up and turned to look at me. They were covered in a version of heavy armour I had never seen before, all a dull non-reflective black, with splashes of gray and green, helping them blend in. Their visor was dull non-reflective gold. Their weapons had a strange blue glow to them.

The two soldiers nodded their heads at me and activated their cloaking, vanishing into thin air. I activate my visor's infrared, but couldn't detect them.

"Shepard be advised, we are being assisted by an unknown force on this mission" I say into my radio. The response was nothing I expected.

"_Copy that asset Noble. We're the good guys here_" came an unknown male voice over the radio.

"_He's right Nihlus_" came Shepard's voice over the radio "_His team sniper's have been protecting my team since the start of the mission_"

"Alright then. I am heading to the space station, see you there" I reply.

I cautiously turn the corner and am met by a sight I didn't expect.

"_Asteria?_"

* * *

**R&amp;R!**


	4. Chapter 4: Mirum Aversatus

**Chapter 3: M****irum Aversatus**

_**Arya 'Greyhound' Dunn's POV:**_

We all heard Nihulus's exclamation at meeting his fellow Spectre. Delta immediately tensed up, knowing that things had now changed dramatically for all of us.

"Archangel, locate all Spectre files labelled 'Asteria', Dusty, Nomad eyes on asset Noble, we need to get to his position _now_" Delta fires off to our ship AI and teammates on the ground.

"_Copy that Delta_" came the replies.

He looked at me and said, "Race you there?"

Though he could not see the feral grin covering my face, I swipe my finger across my visor. And we take off towards the loading bay.

* * *

_**Nihlus Kryik's POV:**_

Something about this whole setup was off. My scales itched in the same way when something bad was about to happen.

"Don't worry, I have everything under control" Asteria said behind me.

"NIHLUS! DUCK!" I hear over my comms. I instinctively tuck and roll as two rounds fly by above me. They were fired _from behind!_

I hear the tell-tale hum of biotics and hear the loud report of a sniper rifle. I turn around and see my fellow Spectre and traitor run for her life, using her biotics to propel her faster as she dodged sniper fire.

"You ok Nihlus?" a voice asks me as an armoured gauntlet appeared in my vision. I grasped it and it pulled me up. I came face to face with four of the armoured soldiers from before.

"As fine as anyone would be when their bondmate would choose to shoot at them" I comment, my anger and shock being conveyed through my sub-vocals at the stark betrayal. A hand rested on my right shoulder and squeezed it gently. I looked up into a gold-non reflective visor, and despite not seeing the face could feel the sympathy.

I shook it off, my sub-vocals out off control. As I made to follow her, another of the armoured soldiers stood in my way. I pointed a rifle into its face.

"You go chasing after her now and you will get killed. They will trap and kill you" came a melodious and feminine voice from the soldier's speakers. There was a hint of a trill to the voice. I ignored the rest of the team surrounding me with their gun's raised.

"Uh...I would _really _appreciate you taking that gun out of my wife's face" one of the soldiers remarked. I sigh and put my gun away and the soldiers do the same.

"What the hell happened here?" came Shepard's voice from behind us. For some reason the team leader tensed up as soon as he heard her voice.

"Commander Shepard I presume? My name is Delta and we are Cerberus" the team leader said.

* * *

**Sorry I took so damn long to write guys!**


	5. Chapter 5 : Old Memories

**Chapter 4: Old Memories**

_**LCDR. Katherine 'Kate' Shepard's POV:**_

"_Cerberus?!_ The hell are a bunch of terrorists doing here?!" shouted Gunny Williams. I couldn't agree more, while all of us were pointing guns at them.

"I think you are talking about the Mark 1 version. We tore it apart, _from the inside_" commented one of the soldiers, call sign 'Hunter'. The team leader, 'Delta', just shook his head in frustration.

"Look Ka-Commander, just take a leap of faith with us. We are not the same Cerberus that you knew" said Delta. I noticed he had slightly slipped up and called me by my first name. I cocked my head to a side. Only one person had ever asked me to do that and he had vanished after Elysium.

I decided to do the same once more.

"Team, stand down" I say in my most commanding tone. My team give unhappy grumbles but obey.

Delta gives a sharp nod to me and then looks at his team mates.

"Greyhound, Nomad, you're with the Commander. Hunter, you and I are going ahead and providing recce" he orders, then Hunter and Delta glow with biotics before disappearing in a flash of light.

* * *

**R&amp;R**


	6. Chapter 6:Motiunculis Levibu

**Chapter 5: Motiunculis Levibusque**

_**Lt. O. 'Athena' Lawson's POV:**_

"_Athena, Delta. Engaging multiple Geth units. Danger close fire on my poz._" came Delta's voice over the radio. I banked the Hind and came over to where Hunter and Delta were fighting a heavy company of Geth.

"Delta, Athena in position_"_

_"Take 'em out"_ came the quick reply. I let rip with the plasma cannons, quickly overwhelming their shields, slaughtering them.

_"Good guns Athena"_ came Delta's praise. I smirk as I bask in his praise, not a very common thing to happen. Just then my radio squawks to life.

"_Athena, Viper flight is heavily engaged by triple-A sites and enemy air assets. Engage the triple-A while Viper handles the birds. Omega and Carbon will assist. Marking waypoint on your HUD_" Archangel informed me, while marking out where I have to go.

"Roger Archangel. Viper-zero-one, this is Athena, how copy over?" I hail Viper flight lead as I formate with Omega and Carbon. The reply is immediate and frantic.

"_This is Viper-zero-three, I'm under heavy fire, request*static*..._

I'm gonna make those sunavabitches pay.

"Archangel, Viper is KIA. Moving in on that position to take the clankers down" I say while tears threaten to run down my face. I clamp down on my emotions before they break free.

"_Copy Athena, make 'em pay. Carbon and Omega will assist_" came the response.

"_Right behind ya LT_" came Carbon's voice on my headset. I quickly glance at them both, nodding in response.

"Carbon, hit their right flank, Omega take out any troop concentrations with AOE rounds. I'll take out their air assets. Charge and barge gentlemen"

"_Wilco_" comes Omega's reply

"_Roger_" Carbon confirms.

We light up our FTL-drives and race over to the target area. We drop out within nanoseconds, letting off a massive shockwave, causing two Geth dropships to collide with each other.

"Take 'em out!" I order, engaging the dropships before they have a chance to regenerate their shielding. I use my full arsenal.

Within the next thirty, gory seconds, I tear apart dropships and fighters out of the sky. I don't care what happens to me now.

"_Athena, come in! Athena! Damn it. ORIANA!_" I hear a familiar voice yell through my radio link. Why is my vision blurry?

"Yes?" I choke out. I wipe my face. My throat feels raw.

"_Disengage, right now. Head to my poz._" comes Delta's voice. I knew by his tone he wasn't happy.

"Copy" I reply, heading over to his position.

"_Athena, CASEVAC NOW! Commander Shepard's down! C'mon Katey-cat don't you dare die on me!_" I hear Delta's voice, ragged with pain. I blast my way over on FTL.

I come in fast and hard, dropping out of FTL and swing around for a landing, while hitting the ramp door. I hear the thrum of boots getting on board.

"GO,GO,GO!" I hear a voice yell from behind.

"_All Cerberus forces, disengage. The Geth are bugging out_" came Archangel's voice over our comms.

"_Invincible_,this is Athena. Prep. medbay, we have a wounded eagle" I say over comms.

"Solid copy, med team standing by in hangar" comes the quick reply of my elder sister.

I break atmosphere and head to one of the docking bays of the super carrier _Invincible_. The huge behemoth in front of me was shaped like a rifle and it was well over 5 kilometers long.

"The hell is that?!" came a startled exclamation from behind me. I glance back to see and my cybernetics immediately tag the person as Gunny Williams. Her jaw seemed to have fallen to the floor as she and the _Normandy's_ uninjured away team stared glassily at the _Invincible_.

"Archangel, patch me through to the _Normandy_..._SSV Normandy_ this is Delta, commander of Cerberus forces onboard the _Invincible_..Captain..._Captain Anderson_, we are not that Cerberus. We aided Eden Prime and rescued not only remnants of 212 and Commander Shepard. I recommend you bring the _Normandy_ on board the _Invincible_...quite frankly sir, we have frigates lightyears ahead of the _Normandy...Thank you sir, _Delta out. Ori, bring us in" Delta ordered me. I quickly obey and bring us in for a landing.

I see the sleek, graceful hull of the _Normandy_ slide into the _Invincible _and come in for a landing. As soon as I land I hit the hatch release and swing my self out of the cockpit. All the emotions I had kept locked up threatened to burst forth when the only female team member of Delta squad came over to me.

"I am so sorry for your loss" Arya says, her voice sympathetic and understanding. I lose my composure to those forest green eyes and break down. Her arms pull me into a hug and I bury my head into her shoulder.

I just want to forget.

* * *

**Emotional, this one.**

**R&amp;R!**


	7. Chapter 7 : Fidus, Fidelius, Verus

**Reply to reviewers:**

** OfficerDonNZ: Firstly the story is AU. Secondly, I want to keep a majority of the back story a secret till Therum.  
eurodox59: Like I mentioned to OfficerDonNZ, all will be explained.**

**For everyone else, the story is AU in a covert, behind-the-scenes way. All will be explained in the fullness of time.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Fidus**, **Fidelius, Verus**

_**LCDR. Katherine 'Kate' Shepard's POV:**_

I slip in and out of consciousness. I am plagued by nightmares. Entire worlds burn. Races die or are converted into machines. Metal on flesh. And each time a planet comes into focus with a red star in the distance.

I then hear a whisper, of a voice that I never thought I would hear again.

"_C'mon Katey-cat_, _wake up"_

And my eyes fly open,while I gasp in a breath of air.

"Doctor Chakwas, Doctor T'Neria, the Commander is awake" comes a mellow baritone. The voice reminded me of what Anderson must have sounded like in his younger days.

"Rohit?" I croak as I look to my left. And a face from my past swims into view. He gives me a crooked grin, his black-brown eyes twinkling with humour.

"Hey there, Katey-cat" he said. I involuntarily smile at him in response. Then I punch him in the face.

Rohit falls off his chair and I jump on top of him and whale into him. He block most of my punches, but I get a good few in.

"Five years! _FIVE! FUCKING! YEARS!__ YOU COULD HAVE CALLED! YOU COULD HAVE WROTE! WHY. THE. HELL. DIDN'T. YOU. CALL ?!"_ I scream at him while I hit him. I feel betrayed,angry,hurt and bitter over the five years I mourned him.

He grabs my wrists and stops me from hitting him while getting up into a sitting position. And for some reason the anger leaves me on seeing his black eye. I sag against his chest as the tears start to fall.

"I am so sorry Katey" he whispers as he wraps his arms around my waist. I pull him closer to me, letting his smell wash over me. Of cordite, gun oil and some musky smell that was _him._

"Ahem" I hear a throat clear behind me. We pull away from each other to see Chakwas, Anderson, Kaidan, Williams, Kryik and Jenkins along with a purple-skinned asari in a doctor's uniform. The looks ranged from confused in the case of Chakwas, Williams, Kryik and Jenkins, to scandalised in the case of Kaidan, to angry in the case of Anderson, to smug satisfaction in the case of the asari.

"_Captain Aggarwal,_there had better be a damn good explanation as to why you led us all to believe that you were dead for the last five years?!" Anderson practically growls at him. We untangle ourselves as we get up.

"Captain Anderson sir. I do believe I owe you both an overdue explanation" Rohit replies, gesturing us outside.

* * *

He ushered me, Anderson, Nihlus and Kaidan into a conference room a few decks above the medbay. The elevator took us from Deck-103 to Deck A-3 in under a minute.

_Wish we had one of these in the Normandy_ I sigh as I think of the as-slow-as-an-Elcor elevator we have on the _Normandy_. Rohit seemed to have caught it as he turns to look at me, his dark eyes analysing me.

"Humorously: Wishing you had one of these onboard the _Normandy_?" he asked. I barely turn my laugh into a snort. He chuckles a little bit and even Kaidan and Anderson sport small smiles.

We stop in front of a door, which opens up to reveal a conference room, with a reception committee waiting for us.

"_Ohmigod!_" I say and rush into the room. I just grab Jamshed, Hari, Jeevan and Miranda in bear hugs. Honestly, my face feels like it's gonna split from how much I'm smiling.

"While it's good to see you again Kate, would you mind not strangling us?" came Miri's strained, strangled voice. I loosened my hold on them while I stared at my best friends who I thought I would never see again.

I send a scathing glare at Rohit, who looks sheepish. He then cleared his throat and stood a little straighter, gesturing forus to sit down.

"Right, quick introductions. My name is Lieutenant Colonel Rohit 'Delta' Aggarwal, Commanding Officer of the Warwolves special operations unit attached to Task Force Invincible. Admiral Oleg Petrovsky" here he gestured with his hand to a man, in white flag uniform "is the Task Force Commander. General Adrien Victus" here a brown plated turian, with white face paint, nodded in acknowledgement "is the General Officer commanding the marine contingent of the Task Force . Master Chief Petty Officer Zaeed Massani is the senior NCO" here a tall Caucasian man with a ropey scar on the right side of his face, with mismatched eyes, grunts in acknowledgement "of the Marines of the Task Force, while Lieutenant Commander Miranda Lawson is our intelligence analyst attached to the Task Force"

_The hell?!_ I think to myself as I listen tot he introductions. Captain Anderson voices the thought we are all thinking.

"Son, you have some explaining to do here" he said. Nihlus lets out a trill of acknowledgement as his face had registered shock on seeing the turian,if his slack mandibles were anything to go by. Rohit just grins in acknowledgement.

"Yessir. It all began on 3rd August, 2176, on Elysium..."

* * *

**Dundundun...**

**And flashback mode begins! (only for the next 3 chapters)**

**It will be primarily from Delta's POV, with occasionally switching over to Lieutenant Arya 'Greyhound' Dunn's POV.**

**My exams are on so updates may become even more sporadic than before.**

**R&amp;R!**


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